Cake batter can be easily mixed with a wooden spoon, but bread dough, with its higher solids content, requires a lot more energy to be properly mixed. Similarly, wood pulp becomes more difficult to mix with bleach liquor as the solids content increases, requiring higher mixing energy.

Since humans first clothed themselves, clothing has changed a lot, especially in the last 100 years. Today, considering the number of humans on the planet, it is more important than ever to consider the sustainability aspects of the fibres and processes used to make that clothing.

Sometimes the barriers put up by intellectual property lawyers to protect their invention lead to innovation that results in the development of a better product by its competitors. This was the case with the carboxylated nanocellulose product now being produced by Anomera in Temiscaming, Quebec.

In addition to present heavy investment in the Swedish paper and pulp industry, new start-up companies are bubbling with different ideas regarding opportunities for new products and applications based on forest raw materials and industrial side streams.

How is electricity produced and distributed in Europe? Why do we have today's situation with high electricity prices and a lack of electricity? Why is Europe affected by the natural gas prices? What is causing the paper and pulp industry in Europe to be plagued by sky-high prices for electricity and other energy?

Research and development of different types of nanocellulose is since many years an area in which a lot of money and efforts are invested. Norway, although not among the biggest pulp and paper producers in the world, is no exception as shown in this blog contribution.

In my last blog, I emphasized that Green Chemistry Principles provide useful, actionable ways to drive innovation strategies and accelerate transformation in the pulp and paper (P&P) industry. Here, I will focus on a facilitating technology in the development and implementation of biomolecules, biomaterials, and bioproducts from biorefinery: molecular modeling (MM).

Increased level of pollution worldwide (soil, air and water) calls for urgent action and scalable solutions.

The Kraft pulping process, patented in 1879 and implemented in 1890, has shown resilience for more than 100 years, as it provides higher pulp strength and allows for about 98% of chemicals recovery cycle and energy efficiency.

Research Information Sharing and Feedback (RISF) activities are offered to FPInnovations’ members to highlight results and solutions from recent research projects.

The Ontario Forest Sector Capacity Building Project (OFSCBP) has been active since the spring of 2021.

View the list of FPInnovations’ most recent reports, publications, and recordings, as well as other items recently made available through the research library. Click on any title for more information.

This will be my last blog as executive director of PPEC, the environmental council I have run for the past 30 years. Yes, 30 years. Unbelievable how time marches on, isn’t it?

What is it about pizza boxes that they always seem to get singled out for special mention? Is it the guilt we feel at scoffing down all that cheese and pepperoni?

Green visions, aspirational goals, and political grandstanding are all very well in their place. But at some point, we have to be realistic.

Wood fiber prices continued their two-year upward trend in the 2Q/22, with hardwood increasing faster than softwood.

Prices for pulplogs and wood chips increased q-o-q in early 2022 in all 19 regions worldwide as tracked by the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ).

A halt in Russian log exports and reduced wood demand in China contributed to a 20% decline in international softwood log trade in the 1H/22.

Canada 2020, a leading national think tank, set out earlier this year to build a new, post-pandemic policy agenda to strengthen the prospects for Canada’s rural and smaller communities.

In the face of more catastrophic fires, climate smart forestry is part of the solution: Nighbor

Governments around the world are turning to the benefits of sustainable forest management and carbon-capturing forest products to support climate action and green economic development.

Planar microwave moisture measurement, since its inception in 2000, continues to develop sophisticated instrumentation tools which greatly expand the utility of the technology into an ever-expanding range of papermaking applications. 

Introduction

As early as 2016, studies were introduced that showed numerous process control benefits that can be realized on paper machines equipped with the EasyScan traversing permeability, water content, and temperature measurement capabilities.

Introduction

In the day-to-day operation of paper machines, little thought is typically applied to carrier rope runs until something changes that affects downtime related to sheet transfers and/or rope replacement.

A large-scale pilot plant at Resolute’s Thunder Bay mill will further develop FPInnovations’ patented process to produce “2G” sugars and hydrolysis lignin (H-lignin) using mechanical refining, mild chemical treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Some companies have latched on to this visualization technology to make at-the-scene maintenance more time-effective and sure. Integration with the Industrial Internet (IoT) is essential to achieve it's full value potential.

Stora Enso and BillerudKorsnäs announce plans to phase in microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in paperboard products. Lightweight milk cartons with Stora Enso MFC are already market tested.